Perspectives on the beautiful game of soccer; fueled by enormous amounts of coffee

Saturday, September 29, 2007

Second half - Fire Chivas USA

46 - Ok, they're at it again. Blanco is down holding his ankle. He limps to his feet dramatically. He looks fine now.

49 - Now the rest of the Fire are getting cheers for how long they keep the ball. "Ole's" all around. The Fire had only one shot in the entire first half. It was, of course, Mr. White's goal.

51 - Chope did have two offsides, though. And Conde and Armas got yellows.

53 - Chicago look confident to start the half, but I'm not counting Chivas USA out. They won't want to give up that home streak easily. Blanco feeds Segares, who crosses into the box. It's cleared out for a corner. Blanco gets another corner out of it, and then Galindo knees him going for the ball. Blanco goes down clutching his groin, but Galindo is jumping around like it's an exagerration. It almost looks like the teams are going to scrap, but the ref is on it and gives Galindo a yellow. Razov pulls Galindo away. Aw, Ante the peacemaker. The free kick for Chicago is cleared away, though.

59 - Back to a midfield battle, neither team really with an advantage, but Chivas works a slight counter well for Ante to take a shot near the corner of the box. It's high. He should have put that on frame at least. He had the time when he took it to place it.

72 - Blanco is such a character. He sarcastically applauds the ref when he is whistled for a foul - than he releases Franks up the sideline, but Franks' first touch is horrid and the ball goes out of bounds. Going the other way, Chivas USA look like they earn a goal when Francisco Mendoza volley's it nearly home, but it hits just off the crossbar.

73 - Blanco runs the ball along the top edge of the box, then lays off for Rolfe, who takes a poor shot. The fans groan. I think they think that Blanco's teammates are wasting some of his gifts.

77 - Chivas USA is having a good run right now, but they can't get a goal out of it. Chicago is doing just enough to keep them at bay.

78 - Blanco gets tripped and this time gets the call. He raises his hands to the sky to thank the heavens. He's funny.Alex Zotinca is subbed in for Lawson Vaughn. The Fire's free kick is pretty far out and Guzan collects Blanco's service into the box.

81 - Galindo gets taken down in the box. He gets legs tangled up with CJ Brown. PK is called and Conde is super-pissed. Suarez takes the penalty kick. He puts it away.

84 - That's another late lead the Fire have let slip away. We'll see if they can hold the draw. Chivas will be pretty happy, though. They don't look like they're going to lose their home unbeaten streak.

85 - Ooh - provocation. Marsch clipped Blanco on the back of the head and Blanco retaliated with a hard shove. Blanco is jawing at the ref and gets a yellow.

86 - Rolfe with a shot that is over the bar by not much. That's better from him.

89 - Clearance by Zotinca falls right to Diego Guttierrez who takes a hard shot it is targeting the goal but Guzan touches it just over with a diving jump. Wow. That was a great save.

90 - The corner gets headed around the top of the arc tantalizingly, but Chivas finally get the ball. The Fire are on the attack again. Rolfe has a bit of space but the shot he takes is horrid - way high. A rebound pushes the ball free and Blanco races for it against Guzan. Guzan wins.On an attack almost immediately after, Blanco gets the ball. He has space and races into the box. He keeps the ball and keeps going. Zotinca seems to tackle him down from behind and Blanco sprawls. No call. Blanco is furious. The Fire coach, Osorio, is livid. The ref ends up tossing him. Blanco goes to take the corner, complaining the whole way. He deliberately puts the ball outside of the corner kick arc, just to aggravate the ref. It doesn't matter. The corner is clear and the game is over. Fun game if you're a neutral. Incredibly frustrating for everyone else. It's kind of a fair result, though. Both teams had chances.

1 comment:

Incredibly frustrating is correct. For the Fire, that's three 1-0 leads given up late in the last three matches. Instead of 9 points, they've gained only 3. That is frustrating!

Also frustrating as you noted:

in the 73rd minute - "Blanco runs the ball along the top edge of the box, then lays off for Rolfe, who takes a poor shot. The fans groan. I think they think that Blanco's teammates are wasting some of his gifts."

Blanco is going to want some new teammates if this keeps up ... and Mr. Wanchope had better start showing some spark and a bit of a first touch.